Northern Grampians Shire has a combined population of nearly 12,000 people and a land area of 5,700 sq kilometres. The two main population centres are Stawell and St Arnaud. Other population centres are the tourist town of Halls Gap, Great Western and a number of small villages.
The desired outcome of the development of a Northern Grampians Tourism Signage Strategy is to guide the development of consistent and relevant signage across the region that leverages key visitor economy strengths, captures the high traffic flow from major arterial roads and encourages visitor dispersal across the region.
The Northern Grampians Tourism Signage Strategy includes all of the following:
- A full audit and recommendations report of all tourism vehicle wayfinding signage (green, brown and blue signs) within Northern Grampians Shire including major highways, tourist drives and routes linking major roads to designated tourist attractions, and all directional signs to tourism services (car/caravan and RV parking, caravan parks, RV dump points, rest areas, accommodation etc.)
- An audit and recommendations report of all destination signage and tourism infrastructure including promotional billboards, Northern Grampians Shire and town/village entry signage, directional signage to visitor centre(s), visitor information bays, temporary and community event promotional signage and interpretive signage.
- Principles and Guidelines based on current national and state guidelines supported by Australian National Standards, VicRoads, NTSRG (National Tourist Signage Reference Group) and VAS (Visitor Attraction Signposting).
- A strategy implementation plan based on audit recommendations. This will be broken down into quick fixes, and projects to be budgeted for in the next 12 months and beyond.